Popular Nigerian gospel singer, Mayowa Ajayi aka Maio Joe who was arrested few weeks ago over online fraud has been jailed. naijagists.com

Below is a video by Mayowa Ajayi titled Titi Aye Mi

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uATopj8pOI

A court in the United Kingdom has jailed the 31-year-old Nigerian gospel singer for six and half years for stealing more than N30m (120,000 pounds) from lonely women by posing as a pilot, oil executive and grieving widower.

The convict, according to the Daily Mail of London, used a dating site to steal more than £120,000 from four single women on popular dating website Match.com using a series of aliases and outlandish stories to fleece them of their cash.

Ajayi, the report stated, sent email threats, purportedly from a captor, claiming he had been kidnapped and would be killed if a ransom was not paid.

The gospel artiste, who was nominated for best international act at the 2011 Gospel Music Awards under his stage name MaioJoe, was jailed for conspiracy to defraud at Snaresbrook Crown Court with Judge Sarah Paneth saying that it was clear he intended to defraud his victims ‘for much more money’ than he did.

He blew all the money on a luxury lifestyle, including a holiday to South Africa.

Judge Paneth added: “This was not money these women had to spare, it was money they needed back urgently.

“Having spent all of their money you pursued them for more by saying you would be killed if they did not pay.”

The court heard how he gained the women’s trust before persuading them to hand over their savings to fund business enterprises insisting the cash would be repaid.

His victims, who all live in America and Canada, were ‘completely taken in by his elaborate lies.

They were left humiliated and some were financially ruined by the scam, which ran between November 2009 and August 2010.

One victim handed over more than $125,000 (now £78,662) from her late husband’s life savings and dead mother’s estate, which she had earmarked for retirement.

Another disabled woman from Nova Scotia was duped into giving Ajayi almost $38,000 (£23,913) after he pretended to be Travis David McFly, a United States Airforce pilot serving in Iraq.

Prosecutor Markus Rickard said: “He told a story to her about some gold bars he had found and that he wanted to get them out of Iraq so they could secure their financial future.

“This inevitably led to the woman having supply money via an intermediary in London, to enable the gold bars to be taken from Iraq.

“She was completely taken in by him and intended to spend the rest of her life with him.

“At one point, she arranged to meet him at an airport and waited for five hours for him, but he did not turn up.

“This has left her flat broke and deeply embarrassed.

Ajayi pocketed around $30,000 (£18,873) from another internet lover, leaving her in financial dire straits.

The singer also posed as a project manager in the oil and gas industry to fleece $7,000 (£4,404) from his final victim, telling her he needed the cash for expenses, including a ‘Crude Oil Lifting Licence.’

He told all but one of the women that he was a white widower with children from Britain called Mark West, who was currently living in the US.

na wa. How could a nigeria top gospel singer be a victim of dis circumstance. This is the reason why we nigerian are being refer to as fraud star and thieves in the western world. I wonder what will still be left in your head by the time u finish serving your jail term.